Alienation in schools

If the numerous posts on Twitter are to be believed, then there is a growing crisis of behaviour in secondary schools in the UK. The excuse of the pandemic is no longer cited, more that this is a general erosion of respect towards school, teachers, parents and of course each other. Increasingly I also hear of girls getting involved in physical fights and sexual abuse from boys to girls is not going away. All in all, it feels like this is not a good time to be teacher.

I am not an expert in behaviour management; I know how to gain respect in my own classroom and I know how I created good behaviour in the schools I ran. But then I didn’t work in challenging schools, so in that sense my opinion is of limited value.

I want, however, to offer an analysis which I think has been overlooked and which might contribute to the debate of how we can build mutual respect in schools. I think that many pupils feel alienated from their school and the adults who work in them. So why…?

Curriculum

First, I think the curriculum is not fit for purpose and hasn’t been for a long time. The over-emphasis of English, Maths and Science is desperately in need of a re-think. In fact, it is hard to think of any subject which the pupils really feel is useful, applicable and ‘for them’. It’s fine to include a subject in the curriculum because it promotes ‘thinking skills’. Most subjects would give ‘thinking skills’ as one of the reasons for their inclusion but the problem is that there are too many that rely too heavily on that justification. The curriculum, from Year 1 up, needs a serious rethink and shake up. A big and hugely problematic topic, I know.

The purpose of education

We all know what education is for, don’t we? Well, it’s to build skills for life, it’s to learn how to be a good citizen, it’s to be knowledgeable and articulate, emotionally aware. Then again, it’s about preparing for working life but also how to relax and be happy. The trouble, it seems to me, is that the purpose of education is very broad and we, as a society, have never tried to tabulate those reasons. Without a set of objectives for children’s education that we agree on (and the list could be as long as you like) there is no central philosophical reasoning behind the way we design the system. Education then becomes a series of bolt-on ideas, a mish-mash of accountability, of ‘core’ subjects, or nice-to-haves, of battles for funding to keep alive the arts, drama, music and so on. We need a central document from which the design of the whole system stems, not just a National Curriculum but a proper let’s-start-from-here fundamental Constitution for 0 to 18 Education. No such document, to my knowledge, exists. If the adults can’t agree what education is actually for, no wonder the pupils feel dis-enfranchised.

Rewarded meritocracy

Many schools do this, in fact I did it too; but I think it is wrong. Do merit points, certificates and badges really incentivise pupils? How do we know? Would it not be equally as good, if not better, to have a quiet word with the pupil who has done especially well? “I just want to say that I am really proud of you – that was amazing, well done.” Isn’t that ten times more powerful than a round of applause, an agonisingly self-conscious walk down to the front of an assembly and the shake of a hand. When we receive Christmas or leaving gifts as teachers, we are not so impressed by the box of chocolates or ‘Best Teacher’ mug as we are hopeful that, when we open the card, it might contain some heartfelt words of appreciation. “Thank you for being my teacher – you have really inspired me.” That’s when the tingles run up your spine and you pledge another year of your life to this vocation.

The biggest problem with rewarded meritocracy is that it can never be fair. Teachers can never actually work out who made the most progress or tried the actual hardest. Aren’t we in danger of rewarding the pupil who deliberately chose, through their apathy and diffident attitude to school, a very low starting point – only to be lauded and rewarded when he/she makes rapid progress? The pupil in the next chair goes, “Yeah right! Reward the naughty kid because he’s not naughty anymore – nice one.”

Then there is the Prefect system. Every year we take a cohort of pupils and select a random percentage to be awarded “Prefect Status”. Every year the percentage of pupils in the senior years of Primary or Secondary schools who are feeling disaffected, demotivated and alienated from their school rises the day the Prefect list is announced.

Rewarded meritocracy is not an incentive to most, it alienates and disenfranchises a significant minority, it’s not right and it’s not fair. Schools should stop doing it.

Cultural disconnect When my youngest daughter was a young teenager she would do her homework sitting in front of re-runs of Friends. I would maybe come home an hour or two after her but I would nearly always enter the room while Friends was showing and of course I became even more familiar with the show, its characters and classic gag lines. Friends is just one example of the cultural references we shared during that time and indeed to this day. (“He’s a trans-sponster” “That’s not even a word!!”). But that is just not the case anymore. Young people now spend time watching TikTok videos, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts and many other internet entertainments. They follow the stories of people who post for a living and who have millions of followers. This is not a rant about the ‘bad-egg’ influencers who are proving so problematic for society – this is simpler than that. The problem is that teachers and parents don’t know what the children and teenagers are watching – there are no shared cultural references anymore. It used to be that pop musicians were largely preserve of the school-aged population, but even then the grownups knew a smattering of who the popular bands and artists were. Nowadays (just using that word makes me sound old, I know) what the children choose – usually quite innocently and safely – is completely unknown to the adults. And that, I think, is a problem.

I was visiting a school recently, working with Year 8 girls. I put it to them that it must feel alienating that their parents know nothing about who they were interested in and were watching. They disagreed, but then they have not known it to be any different. I mentioned a name of a highly popular YouTuber that I had learnt the day before, and the room exploded! The girls all started screaming; one girl – breathless and hardly able to believe she had the chance to share her fandom with an adult – pulled out a crumpled picture of this young man from her blazer pocket. The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Britney or Take That are all artists that are were known and recognised by the parent generation. However, I can list the five most followed posters on TikTok and I don’t think anyone reading this blog will recognise a single name.

Here you go: Khaby Lame (157.3m followers); Charli D’Amelio (150.5m); Bella Poarch (92.7m); Addison Rae (88.7m); Mr Beast (81.1m). How did you do?

Food for thought: Let’s stop ‘addressing’ behaviour – creating ever harsher punishment regimes. For that matter, let’s stop appointing ‘Wellbeing Leads’ and try to fix the problems that actually lead to poor behaviour and poor mental health. Cure the disease not the symptoms.